It’s a year now since the KMSKA, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, reopened after years of renovation work. The team behind the KMSKA have been working hard all year and certainly have something to celebrate: since the renovation the museum has attracted 630,000 visitors both from at home and abroad. It’s a result that exceeded all expectations.
“It’s been a rollercoaster year for our entire team” says director Carmen Willems. The opening weekend attracted crowds of 25,000 – all people eager to rediscover the museum that had been closed for so many years and see if the investment had paid off. Work on the renovation of the KMSKA took eleven years in all and cost over 100 million euros. The museum has always been a cultural landmark in Flanders and one that was sorely missed for over a decade, but the reopening also attracted international interest even with an article in the New York Times singing its praises.
Going by the visitor numbers the museum team’s hard work clearly seems to have paid off. “It’s a great feeling when you see the public embracing the museum” says director Willems. “You see the marvel on so many faces. It’s such a motivating force!”
Patricia Roux has been a loyal KMSKA-goer from long before the renovation. “I remember the museum as an old-fashioned place that was collecting paintings, but also dust, but today when you arrive here, I go ‘WOW’. This is such a festival of light and colours, both in the old and in the new sections that complement each other so well”.
The KMSKA attracts visitors from across Flanders and Belgium but also from abroad. “During the holidays, it’s really fifty-fifty. Half our visitors come from abroad. That’s important for the museum. We also want to be an international attraction!” says Carmen Willems.
Visitor numbers are high, but the museum is also a hit with various target groups. “The KMSKA is popular with young people. Nearly a quarter of all visitors are under 26 years of age. There is also great diversity among museum visitors with people from many backgrounds. It’s something you notice in the museum itself. There’s not only colour on the walls, but everywhere.
But the KMSKA is not resting on its laurels and is eager to invest more in certain target groups. “From the start we established a special project intended to bring the museum to youngsters from vulnerable backgrounds. We made a lot of effort but have noticed we didn’t initially attain the results we had hoped for. The project got off to a rocky start but we are now starting to see the first results” says Willems.
To mark the first anniversary since the reopening the KMSKA threw a big party attracting even more visitors, many of whom were keen to see the new temporary exhibition “To Gigi” . The exhibition pays tribute to museum benefactor Gilberte Ghesquière, who donated 131 works to the KMSKA in her will. It’s one of the largest legacies that the museum has ever received and includes works by Pablo Picasso, Le Corbusier, Francis Bacon, Keith Haring, Léon Spilliaert, Félicien Rops, James Ensor and Panamarenko.